PORTALES, NM – On Friday afternoon, the Division II Collegiate Commissioners Association released its baseball all-region teams. For the second time in three days, Eastern New Mexico University’s Alex DeLaCruz garnered First Team All-South Central honors.
The selection was DeLaCruz’s fourth all-region honor, as he was chosen First Team National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association South Central Region on Wednesday. He also was named to the ABCA/Rawlings and D2CCA All-Region Teams, last year.
DeLaCruz and the Greyhounds won 56 games over the last two seasons, the most in back-to-back years since winning a team record 63 between the 1995 and 1996 seasons. Included in the 2018 total was the program’s first-ever postseason win. Last Thursday, DeLaCruz batted 2-for-5 and drove in a run as Eastern scored a 7-4 win over fourth-seeded Angelo State in the opening round of the LSC Tournament.
A preseason All-American, DeLaCruz led the conference in batting average this season. He also ranked second in the league in hits, third in stolen bases and in the top-10 in most offensive categories. DelaCruz boasted a team-best 16-game hit streak this season and took an 11-game into the final game of the year. He led the squad with 25 multiple-hit games, which included a 3-for-6 outing against league champion WT. The senior second baseman also paced ENMU with 13 multiple RBI games. He had the program’s second highest career batting average, trailing only ENMU Hall of Honors inductee Shane Shallenberger and is second only to Jereme Johnson in stolen base percentage.
